Astley's No.44 Dark Virginia Flake

This is my second Astley's, I've tried 109 and now this.

Let me first say this will not bite your tongue even a bit (unless you're ... um.... short-bus different).

It is a very pleasant smoke, though I find I prefer 109.

I've read of virginias that they tend to start out rather meaningless and grow more pleasant as you smoke through the bowl. That was definitely my experience with 109, and one of the reasons I loved it.... however 44 doesn't seem to change much throughout. That's not to say it's bad. I'm a fan actually. But is quite a bit stronger, and I would say stronger at the expense of flavor personally, I find the 109 to be more flavorful. But if it's strength, especially Lady St. Nic you're looking for ... 44 is the way to go.

VERY strong. I haven't been this buzzed on a pipe tobacco in.... ever. (But I don't smoke a lot of strong blends)

Highly recommended. This is confirming for me thus far that Astley's blends are really THE way to go if you're looking tins... I'm a huge fan of both of these.

After the excellent experience with Astley?s 55, over the X-mas holidays I sampled other blends from this house. No 44 is an excellent, full strength Virginia, mid brown in colour, tightly pressed in a short flake cake. Tin aroma is excellent: spicy, woody and fresh. I found it difficult to break apart the individual flakes, but they were easy to pack and light. A very good and strong tobacco flavour ensues after lighting. Nothing to do with that type of abrasive strength you find in some tobaccos (like Gawith?s Cob Flake or its rope varieties). This is more in the line of Rattray?s Hail O? the Wynd or Dunhill?s Elizabethan Mixture (take away the Perique). It is a straight forward Virginia, not sweet but tangy, cool and satisfying, with an elegant and I would say very traditional matured Va. flavour. No nonsense tobacco, Astley?s 44 belongs with the classics. Highly recommended.

After demand exceeded supply for one of the very popular Virginia flakes, Astley’s No. 44 became a lot more difficult to come by and with good reason. Not being a big fan of the No. 109, this blend was a pleasant surprise. As others have pointed out the flakes are neat and for me need little to no dry time. I tend to do better with this somewhat rubbed out. There is a grassy note and some sweetness that I believe has been added in addition to the natural Virginia flavor. No. 44 has more high notes and the sweetness is not of the dark brown sugar or molasses variety found in darker flakes that I generally prefer. But it is so well done that it doesn’t matter to me. There is a small amount of spice in No. 44 as well. It burns cleanly with no bite and I am sure it will cellar quite well and have added a few tins with that in mind. Lovers of straight Virginias won’t be disappointed with this fine blend.

For a while, this blend seemed to be hard to acquire, but you never heard of anyone hoarding or cellaring this blend. I am a huge fan of Astley's 109, so I happily gave this one a shot. Upon opening the tin and removing the top paper circle, the intoxicating smell of fermented Virginia permeates the nose, and actually made my mouth water a bit. The flakes are so perfectly cut and stacked, it almost appears to be a plug of tobacco. Perfect moisture in the packaging. The little gems rub out quite nicely, and pack with just enough spring to ease tamping. Initial light may take a few tries, and this blend does require a few relight along the way. Nice prominent citrus along with fresh hay are noted. For being a straight Va, this blend does have a bit of depth. Nice clean an fresh on the palate. Definitely a great blend for those seeking a no frills Va.

Astley's - No.44 Dark Virginia Flake.

This, in my opinion, falls right on the cusp of being a broken flake. I expected a similar appearance to their 109 Medium Flake where it was basically one roll of flake in the tin but this has been separated into neat little piles that are about 2x3 cm across. At first glance they look to be still in flake form but on closer inspection I gather that they're actually beginning to break. So, if like me, you rub your flakes out this makes it a dream to prepare. The smell from the tin has a slight fruity/plummy touch to it but mainly it's quite a basic Virginia one. I find the moisture to be good in No.44; this may be down to the fact that the flakes haven't been tightly packed, they had some room to breathe.

I can't really detect, as it says in the description, any citrus notes. I do get quite a substantial fruit addition but that's of dark fruits like plums etc, it's not a sharp flavour of citrus fruits at all. The nicotine seems more mild than medium but I guess everyone's opinion differs with that!

At first I thought this was worth about three points, but then, when I had to re-fill with this and only this the moment my bowl was empty I decided it must be worth four!

Highly recommended.

This is a truly wonderful Virginia flake. One of the best I've had. First half of the bowl gives me sweet dark fruit along with a citrus note that is more like orange than lemon. Second half adds bread notes that taste like honey buns. Just a great, great smoke. Has some strength to it which makes it even more appealing.

Medium in body, taste and nic. I think there is some added flavoring at about very mild. Burn is near perfect. This is a gem.

Update 09/26/2009

Mea Culpa. I've opened a two year old tin this week. I have to upgrade my appreciation of this tobacco to 4 stars now. This tobbaco is sublime after the short aging! I cannot wait to try it again after 5 years of aging!

The flakes are darker now, 60% dark brown, 30% medium and 10% golden. The tin aroma is grassy and sweet at the same time. The nicotine level is excellent, just enough to keep me interested and satisfied. The taste is very nice, grassy and sweet with something else I still cannot identify. But it requires a minimum of attention so you can enjoy the subtilities of it. Puffing too quickly will not really bite but turn this little beauty in a blend mixture.

It smokes dry all the way and helps build up a nice cake in any new pipe.

I have not tried the other offerings from Astley's (aka K & Hopp), but this offering is excellent. All it needed was some aging...So I would recommend to anybody buying no 44 to let it age a couple years first, in order to avoid an initial disapointment and thus underestimate the great potential of this square - cut flake.

A beauty, once more. Highly recommended!

Original review 12/24/2007

After reading the reviews, I must agree with First Sealord on his assessment of this tobacco- mind you, not because I fear ending up hanging from the main mast by the neck!

In my perception, a dark VA flake would be more like Solani's White & Black, Samual Gawith's Chocolate flake or Full VA flake. No 44 is no dark VA flake. Just like Hal' O the Wynd is none, either, as we are on the subject.

Nonetheless, I admit, the leaf has its virtues. The flake is extremely easy to rub out and the filling of the pipe is like a child's play. Lighting and smoking are elementary, revealing a slightly sweet VA taste without any complexity. It smokes even and leaves a dry bowl with gray ashes.

I've experienced better tobaccos, but a fair quantity was worse. If I was to read a novel, I would probably reach for this flake.

I agree with DK's review on this one. It's more a brown broken flake than a dark flake. The smell in the tin is sweet, spicy and tangy/citrus. What is great about it is that you find the same flavors when put to the match. Furthermore, you get a woody and slightly earthy flavor as well as the bowl advances.

Mellow and round, it never bites and burns nicely. The source for sweetness is hard to pinpoint, it could easily be an extremely mild sugar casing that is not over done and adds to the tobacco flavor profile. The nicotine level is full medium and I prefer to smoke it by midday or early evening.

Virginia lover

Popped open a tin I just received from an online shop. It smelled like fermented fruit, citrus, a bit of hay and some earth. The molted flakes/cake appeared to have stained the paper it is wrapped in...awesome! I didn't really see any flakes that were easy to separate, instead it was a tightly packed group of flakes that made one cake. I was able to pull some of the medium to light brown flakes from the cake though.

Easy to load and at already perfect moisture right from the tin. It lights easily and stays lit with light, but firm, tamping. This tobacco behaves very well.

I got lots of thick creamy smoke that was very flavorful. Lots of fruit, dark fruit (plum) balanced perfectly by citrus notes that lean more towards orange than lemon/lime. A bit of hay, but just a touch, mixed with bread and slight earth flavors. Excellent smoke. The flavors and sweetness seem to be naturally occurring rather than from some topping. I could see this becoming a favorite and easily an all day smoke. It reminded me of another flake, almost to the 'T', except I couldn't quite put my finger on which one. It reminds me a lot of Germain's Medium Flake, but not as dark or strong. It also reminded me of Reiner's Long Golden Flake, but the flavor profile was a bit deeper and richer. Wonderful stuff!!!